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Clint Eastwood made a film classic out of Mystic River, with an Oscar-winning performance by Sean Penn. Then Ben Affleck made his highly acclaimed directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone. Now, Martin Scorsese revealed that he would direct Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island next year, with Leonardo DiCaprio in final talks to star. All this success in Hollywood hasn’t tempted Lehane to try his hand at adapting his own books though. He's never adapted his own work for the big screen, though he's written for HBO's The Wire. When he isn’t writing, he also finds time to teach and speak to audiences all over the country. But he has no special tricks to reveal. "I tell them, it's very simple," Lehane says of his students. "If you learn how to write well, to write with depth, cream will rise to the top.” Lehane’s work has risen to the top, but he maintains that the only secret to his success is that he is "just the luckiest guy on the planet." (AP)
In an industry where print media is cutting back on book reviews and news outlets march ceaselessly into the digital age, the promotion and exposure of authors and their books has become more challenging. A recent article in Publishers Weekly unveiled one growing innovation that publishers are using to combat this: in-house speakers bureaus. In 2005 HarperCollins became the first publisher to start their own speakers bureau. Since that time it has grown to include more than 100 author-speakers, who range from revered novelists to best-selling medical and economic experts. PW cited the creation of these bureaus as one of the industry’s surest areas of growth and definitive benefit for the represented authors. Authors such as Douglas Brinkley, agreed. “The HarperCollins Speakers Bureau has been truly amazing,” he said. “Because I’m considered an in-house historian…the bureau seems hyper-committed to booking me around the country at festivals and lecture halls.” While book sales have remained steady over the years, the HCSB continues to grow at a rate of about 30% a year.
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